US Aid worker who devoted life to helping poor is killed in Mali terror outrage

Anita Datar, 41, went to help Africa but was gunned down by al Qaeda jihadists

She had dedicated her life to bettering the lives of some of the planet’s poorest people, but that counted as nothing when Anita Datar was confronted by al-Qaeda gunmen as they shot their way into the Radisson hotel in the Malian capital, Bamako.

Ms Datar, a 41-year-old public health specialist from New Jersey, was among 20 people who were gunned down in the latest terror attack in the western Sahara that also left six Russians, three Chinese and a Belgian diplomat dead.

Anita Datar Photo: Enterprise News

She left behind a primary-school aged son, Rohan, and – said family and friends as they paid tribute last night – a legacy of good works.

"Everything she did in her life she did to help others"

Family of Anita Datar

A week ago, in a post on Twitter, Ms Data had published a picture of two south Asian women on a tablet computer, declaring the role of technology in empowering women to be “cool stuff”.

“It’s unbelievable to us that she has been killed in this senseless act of violence,” her family said. “Anita was one of the kindest and most generous people we know. Everything she did in her life she did to help others.”

Anita Datar Photo: @AnitaDatar/Twitter

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, referred to her death in a social media post saying “We mourn American Anita Datar”, before extending condolences for all the victims and a pledge of solidarity to the Malian people.

The nine-hour assault in the Malian capital was condemned across the world after being claimed by Al-Murabitoun, the al-Qaeda affiliate that was responsible for the 2013 attack on an Algerian gas plant in which 37 hostages, including six Britons, were killed.Malian security forces, assisted by British and French special forces, were last night still seeking three people with links to the attacks. The government declared a 10-day state of emergency and three days of official mourning.

The attacks, which brought Islamist terror to the capital when it had been contained to the country’s north, are a blow to hopes of stabilising Mali. Reports that the gunmen spoke English raised the prospect that Boko Haram, the Nigeria-based Islamist terror group, may also have been involved, further deepening Mali’s terror problem.

“Terror will not win,” said President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in a televised address. “Long live Mali!”

Barack Obama and his Russian and Chinese counterparts Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping all added their voices in condemnation.

Last October Mali announced a £6bn deal with two Chinese railway civil engineering companies to build a line to the Guinean port of Conakry and to upgrade the railway to Senegal.

The dead Chinese were members of the state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation who were holding a meeting in the lobby of the hotel.

The killers, who had drawn up in a car with diplomatic number plates, reportedly raked the lobby of with gunfire, killing all three, according to The Paper, a Shanghai-based news website.

The six Russians were flight crew for the Russian cargo company Volga-Dnepr. Mr Putin said the attack proved that terrorism “knows no borders”.

One hotel guest described how he had been in the gym working out when the gunmen struck.

“I opened the lobby door slowly, and I saw bullets on the ground. So I closed the door of the lobby and I went door to door, and from the gym I left the hotel,” Michael Skapoullis told the BBC.

For Ms Data, who had also co-founded an enterprise called Tulalens to enable poor women in India to crowd-source information on health services, there was to be no such lucky escape.

Last night her family urged that her death not be used to fan flames of division. “While we are angry and saddened that she has been killed, we know that she would want to promote education and healthcare to prevent violence and poverty at home and abroad, not intolerance,” they said.